This is my go to recipe for soft, sourdough sandwich bread. It is simple and turns out perfect every time!
The Sourdough Journey
I had been using sourdough for about 5 years before I was able to make a good loaf of bread. Turns out my homemade sourdough starter was never quite strong enough to rise bread. I was still learning a lot at that phase!
About 7 years ago, I took a sourdough class and was gifted an old pioneer bread starter. When I got home, I made my first loaf of sourdough bread that rose well, tasted delicious and caused me to cry tears of joy. I was ecstatic.
Getting it Just Right
As I made more bread, I developed this recipe – Our Favorite Sourdough Sandwich Bread. The honey offsets the tang of the sourdough. The whole grain boosts the protein, the flavor, as well as the nutrition. The oil helps keep the bread soft.
At first, I added an egg but discovered when my daughter had to be 100% egg free that the egg really didn’t change the bread much at all so I don’t put it in anymore.
Tips and Tricks
I use either my USA loaf pans (with parchment inside) or glass pans to bake these loaves. In my oven, I have to be mindful of a burnt bottom so I always put a pan of some kind underneath my loaf pans.
Butter (or dairy free butter) works best to grease bread pans. The loaves slip out great every time.
With the longer baking time of sourdough, I also have to rotate my loaves and cover the tops with foil at the end of the baking time. Maybe your oven isn’t so finicky as mine but if it is, learn the tricks to keep your precious loaves from burning.
Our Favorite Sourdough Sandwich Bread
3 cups warm water
1 1/2 cup active sourdough starter
½ cup honey
1 egg (optional)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups whole grain flour (or more)
5-6 cups all–purpose flour
Directions
Add water, starter, honey, egg (optional), oil, salt and whole grain flour to a mixer (I use a Bosch) or a bowl. Mix until combined. Add 5 cups all-purpose flour. Mix again. Add more all purpose flour, if needed, mixing between each addition until the mixture comes together into a smooth dough and clears the sides of the bowl. When you lightly press the dough with your finger it should not stick much to your finger.
Let the bread knead in the bosch for 3-5 minutes or pull it out of the bowl and knead it on the counter, pushing it over on itself and then flipping it and doing that same thing from another angle, again and again. This process helps to activate the gluten which gives the bread strength to rise big and puffy. Kneed to your satisfaction and then transfer the dough to a large bowl or tupperware. Cover lightly with a lid or plastic wrap. You do not want the lid to be on tightly. The sourdough needs room to breath.
Let the dough sit on your counter until it has doubled in size. This dough takes 8-10 hours to double at my house. Once the dough has doubled, remove from container and form the dough into desired shape. My loaves are about 800 grams each. It makes three loaves. Butter (even dairy free butter) is the best for greasing your loaf pans, oil does not work as well.
When I do round loaves, I form them and let them rise on parchment paper so they can easily be transferred into the dutch oven. Once all your loaves are shaped, cover them with saran wrap and let them double again. Once they are doubled, slash the top of your bread with desired shape.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees about 20 minutes before your loaves are ready to bake.
If I bake this dough in a dutch oven, I put the dutch oven on a pizza stone so the bottom doesn’t get too dark. I bake it covered for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, I remove the lid and insert an instant read thermometer into the partially cooked bread. Let it continue to cook until the internal temperature gets to 190-200 degrees.
If I bake it in loaf pans, I put my loaf pans on top of a pizza stone so the bottom doesn’t get too dark and I cover the tops with foil after about 20 minutes of baking so the tops don’t get too dark either. After the loaves have baked for 20 minutes, I insert the instant read thermometer into the center of a loaf. Loaves bake to 180 degrees.
Once the thermometer reads 180 degrees, I remove the pans from the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes. The five minute resting time gives the loaves time to sweat in the pan and allows the bread to be removed easily. If it is not coming out of your loaf pan easily, run a butter knife around the edge of the loaf to loosen it up.
